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Thread: Tips for a silent PC?

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    Tips for a silent PC?

    I've got an e6300 turning up soon that i intend to overclock to the max.....

    That being said i need my machine to be as quiet as possible, without going to the expensive of water cooling!

    Any tips on a good case + CPU cooler? Ideally something i can turn down when i need to, and turn up when im thrashing it with games.

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    Cooling:
    Arctic Cooler 7 Pro (about £17) or a passive Ninja Scythe (about £30). The latter you can fit with an optional fan for even more cooling.

    Case:
    Well I don't really know much about them but the Antec P180 is great for around £85, or there's a Antec SLK3000 for a bargain £35. Lian-Li cases are also very good for cool systems.

    Anyone want to help me out here??

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    Senior Member sawyen's Avatar
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    low speed fans.. silenx, amber or similar..

    sound shielding, akasa acoustic case mats or antec similars..

    scythe coolers.. ninja or similar.. on again, low speed fans..

    quiet PSU ala Tagan or Seasonic..
    Me want Ultrabook


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    Lovely chap dangel's Avatar
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    Bigger fans are quieter.

    I replaced all my 80mm fans with 120mm ones through cunning adapters and duct tape Much better airflow, much less noise. Avoid push air from fans through grills - the turbulence develops almost all the noise.
    Crosshair VIII Hero (WIFI), 3900x, 32GB DDR4, Many SSDs, EVGA FTW3 3090, Ethoo 719


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    Senior Member sawyen's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dangel View Post
    Bigger fans are quieter.

    I replaced all my 80mm fans with 120mm ones through cunning adapters and duct tape Much better airflow, much less noise. Avoid push air from fans through grills - the turbulence develops almost all the noise.
    thats quite difficult unless you mod these cases.. most modern cases are filled with grills..

    well, afaik.. honeycomb design produces the least noise.. No technical explanation and all, just heard it from somewhere..
    Me want Ultrabook


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    Lovely chap dangel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sawyen View Post
    thats quite difficult unless you mod these cases.. most modern cases are filled with grills..

    well, afaik.. honeycomb design produces the least noise.. No technical explanation and all, just heard it from somewhere..
    The rear fan on my case had a removable grill, attached 80mm->120mm adapter and mounted 120mm externally - job done.

    The top fan had a removable mesh - adapter again externally with 120mm sat on top.

    Just doing that dropped my case temps massively and also the noise - i watercool and so i'm pretty intolerant of noise.

    Any grill design that allows the air to flow around it (i.e. not flat sharp edges) will reduce turbulence - think of it in terms of aerodynamics - a rounded edge is better for example. On my shuttle I dremeled out the big chunky honeycomb grill as it blocked half the exhaust area and generated lots of noise. One 120mm fan on back (adapter again - seeing a pattern?) and virtually silent shuttle coupled with massive drop in temps for the system.
    Crosshair VIII Hero (WIFI), 3900x, 32GB DDR4, Many SSDs, EVGA FTW3 3090, Ethoo 719


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    Quote Originally Posted by Lithium? View Post
    Any tips on a good case + CPU cooler? Ideally something i can turn down when i need to, and turn up when im thrashing it with games.
    You can buy a fan controller to turn the fan speeds down manually. I bought a cheap Akasa one off eBay for about £5 which can control upto 3 fans and has 2 usb 2.0 ports.

    As everyone's said try to use 12cm fans all round.

    Depending on you motherboard you should check how loud your chipset fan is. As they can often be pretty loud.

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    "Speedfan" is a good program to use as well. Only works when you get into windows, so fans will run full speed at boot, but i limit my Arctic Freezer 7 Pro to 50% when in windows and it's silent. Despite other opinions, i feel it's quite loud at it's stock rpm.

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    What do you think about :

    Antec Sonata II with their "silent" 450W PSU - fitted out with some Antec insulation material.

    Tuniq Tower 120 ? Seems to me its a huge cooler so i can stick a slow 120mm fan in there?

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    i have the antec 450W psu, its not silent, very quiet but you have to go tagan or seasonic to get true silence from psu. the sonata is a nice case, but i think the antec P180b is my first choice, gl with build, should be fun with the toys you getting
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    Yeah everyone seems to say the p180b is the better case but man £80 plus what £50-60 minimum for a decent PSU?: Pfft its starting to get SILLY

    Ebuyer has a :

    Seasonic S12 Series 380W PSU - ATX2.0 EPS12V 120mm Fan - £43

    The next one up is

    Seasonic S12-550E+ 80Plus 550W PSU - Active PFC £83!!!

    And i'm not too sure if 380watt is going to be enough? it probably should be ok now because its good quality but if i upgrade to a g80 wtf maybe not.

    Its all so expensive these days, what happened to good old £15 qtec psus ?

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    Seasonic psu's do seem come out well in every test I have ever seen of them. Scan sometimes have them for a good price.

    'Silent' seems to be a word batted around by reviewers and product descriptions quite often, I have bought things in the past described as 'silent' to be completely amazed by the racket it makes.

    You may find a visit to http://www.silentpcreview.com beneficial for some in depth testing of individual components that you are considering.

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    Seasonic's are the leaders in making silent psu , but there are others that perform very well that are much cheaper FSP etc. and you can also replace a noisy psu fan with a make that is more silent.
    It depends on what you mean by silent , i like the whoosh of air outta my pc but can't stand whiny drives , so for me i have 120mm fans cooling my cpu, case and i have my hard drives suspended

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    Nothing runs like a Deere cotswoldcs's Avatar
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    I have a Sonata I case and AFIK the Sonata II is fairly similar in design. It's quite small and as mentioned the PSU is not as good as Seasonic offerings. I'd go for an Antec P180 (or P190 when it arrives!) if I were you.

    On the subject of case fans, what would you all recommend for silent 120mm fans. I've heard great things about Sharkoon fans but Scan don't have any in stock and I'm thinking about a NorthQ 1200rpm instead. The only problem is that I know very little about NorthQ - are they any good? Any other recommendations? I've heard that SilenX fans are not as good as the specs suggest. Akasa Amber fans again haven't been reviewed as well by some websites as other manufacturers. I'm sure both would be good but the price difference is small and getting the best seems worthwhile.

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    For my new core 2 duo system I'm getting a scythe infinity with a silenx 120mm fan on it, most likely the 18db 90CFM one thats currently just causing a breeze round my 7900GX2 (ok a strong breeze) or maybe I'll get the 14db version which still pushes 64CFM and is the nice standard 25mm thickness (The 18db is 38mm btw)
    I'm just hoping the mounting clips will lyke the 38mm thickness, though the thermalright Ultra-120 would then be my choice if it mounts fans like my current XP-90c. Another great fan is the thermaltake thunderbird, 78CFM at 21db and its standard 25mm.

    Anyone know if a SI-128 would beat a infinity/ultra-120 and those kinda fans? I just like the idea of the amount of tightly packed fins its got
    Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't

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    Flat cap, Whippets, Cave. Clunk's Avatar
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    The SI-128 is a damn fine cooler. I wouldnt think that there would be much in it between the two, but the SI-128 has the advantage of blowing a bit of air to the area surrounding the cpu as well. You can also fit it any way round, so that you position the overhanging bit to cool the area that you need.

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